A Tamil devotee prays during the Thai Pongal harvest festival at a temple in Colombo January 15, 2016.The Tamil festival of Thai Pongal is a thanksgiving ceremony in which the farmers thank the spirits of nature, the sun and the farm animals for their assistance in providing a successful harvest. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

A participant jumps trying to control a bull during the annual bull taming “Jallikattu” festival in Palamedu village on the outskirts of Madurai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu on January 16, 2020. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

A flood-affected couple sits along a flooded roadside under a picture of Jayalalithaa Jayaram, chief minister of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, in Chennai, India, December 6, 2015. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)

Students perform traditional dance as they take part in Pongal celebrations, the Tamil harvest festival, at a college in Chennai on January 10, 2024. (Photo by R. Satish Babu/AFP Photo)

Indian Hindu devotees wait to take part in an event to mark Pongal in Mumbai on January 15, 2016. Pongal, which coincides with the Hindu festival Makara Sankranthi, is a thanksgiving and harvest celebrated throughout India and specifically by those from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. (Photo by Indranil Mukherjee/AFP Photo)